[HauseMan]

A friend lives in the metro Austin area, which is old SBC territory, and has a Broadmax HSA-300A2 DSL modem which he wants to use on his new AT&T account. The modem had been previously in service on a local (non-AT&T) phone company's DSL network with no problems.

My local AT&T DSL services utilize Westell Wirespeed modems, but those can be bought just as well as the others on the market.

Well, apparently AT&T in their infinite wisdom, ultimately won't let him use that modem, demanding that he buy one of THEIR modems instead. This after being told he could use said modem, and told him they were glad he owned his own equipment at that. What a crock !

Thus, he hasn't been able to get online at all, and is concerned about being billed for service he never received, nor was able to use. He is refusing to pay one thin dime, and is willing to take legal action if necessary, up to and/or including antitrust violations if applicable.

This issue makes about as much sense as the case where an ISP was blocking ports used by VoIP services, and were charged with antitrust violations. I smell a rat here, too.

Any attorney reading this thread would be welcome to reply, and I will forward any opinions back to my friend.

For once, I'm glad to be a cable customer.....